Impression on The Hollow Men 《空心人》读后感.doc

Impression on The Hollow MenOutlineBackground: T. S. Eliot was one of the greatest poets of the last century. His works have influenced poets, criticists and scholars of a whole generation. In the poem The Hollow Men, Eliot satirized the straw men, which could be regarded as a comment on the moral and spiritual emptiness of society at that time. What the hollow men are like: The hollow men are those who are empty in spirit, lack of motivation, pursuit, and faith. They have to lean together to stand still. The focus of their life is gone; the backbone of their spirit is destroyed. They are alive with flesh and blood physically but dead without motivation and pursuit spiritually.What their life are like: In deaths kingdom, even the violent souls will be judged, yet the hollow men dare not face it. They can only live in the dead land. What they possess are merely dying bodies; what they can do is only praying to the broken stone and trembling with tenderness at the same time. They had no idea what their future would be, and what kind of fate they would have. For them, life is torture, so that life is very long.How their world ends: No one will care for their death; they will die unnoticed in the end. Even at the last moment of their life, they do not find their dignity, gone with a weak whimper.Reflection: There are countless hollow men even in modern society. Modern citizens who are oppressed by heavy work or suffocating life style. Driven by the pressure of life, peoples passion, wisdom, peaceful mood and profound thinking are squeezed out in their mind. They are modern hollow men. We should try to listen to the sound from our heart, from deep inside. Feel our heart, surpass the profane world, embrace our spirits and return to the pure era.Key words: The Hollow Men, T. S. Eliot, SpiritITable of ContentsDeclarationIOutlineIIPart I11.1Background1Part II22.1Analysis of the poem22.1.1What the hollow men are like22.1.2What their lives are like22.1.3How their world ends3Part III43.1Reflection on modern society4Acknowledgement5References6IPart I1.1 BackgroundT. S. Eliot was one of the greatest poets of the last century. He described himself as “a royalist in politics, a classicist in literature, and an Anglo-Catholic in religion”; and he had manifested a reliance upon authority and tradition. His masterpiece, The Waste Land, is one of the major works of modern literature. Its subject, the apparent failure of Western civilization which World War I seemed to demonstrate, set the tone of his poetry until 1930. His works have influenced poets, criticists and scholars of a whole generation. The Hollow Men, the poem this paper is going to illustrate, was written in 1925, a few years after World War I. In this poem, Eliot satirized the straw men, which could be regarded as a comment on the moral and spiritual emptiness of society at that time. People were extremely desperate because of the disillusionment of their dreams after World War I. As its name implied, The Hollow Men represented the empty inner world of those who were devoid of faith and spirituality.Part II2.1 Analysis of the poem2.1.1 What the hollow men are like“Mistach Krutzhe dead. / A penny for the Old Guy”, the two epigraphs gives two typical examples of the hollow men directly at the beginning of the poem. Mistach Krutz was a domineering imperialist who tried to control everything through spirit and finally died miserably, with his soul lost. Old Guy tried to blow up the British Parliament with gunpowder in 1605, and was burned up on Nov. 5th every year in the form of a stuffed effigy by children who went around begging for pennies to buy fireworks. Krutz was hollow because he lost his soul at last, while the Old Guy is literally hollow in stuffed effigy, losing the ability of thinking and acting.The first section of the poem further illustrates what the hollow men are like: “We are the hollow men / We are the stuffed men / Leaning together / Headpiece filled with straw”. With a few sentences, Eliot vividly shows us that the hollow men are not really hollow in physical form. They are hollow in spirit. In that sense, they are alive with flesh and blood physically but dead without motivation and pursuit spiritually. It reminds me of the scarecrows that the farmers used to frighten the birds. Or they even may be more deplorable than the scarecrows which at least can stand by themselves performing agricultural functions. The hollow men, they have to lean together to stand still. The focus of their life is gone; the backbone of their spirit is destroyed. “Our dried voicesAre quiet and meaningless / As wind in dry grass / Or rats feet over broken glass / In our dry cellar”. Without spirit, the voices of the hollow men are dried; what they say are meaningless, for no one would think them important. They are just like aimless rangers, wandering together on a deserted land. No one would listen to their whisper, or those who hear it would choose to neglect it. For those who have motivation and pursuit, and whose souls are not lost, the grass in their garden is green and vibrant, the glass they hold is full of fragrant wine. On the contrary, the hollow men can only enjoy dry grass and broken glass. “Shape without form / shade without colour / Paralysed force / gesture without motion”. These lines reflect that what the hollow have are just empty shells. With only physical body but not spirit, they are utterly worthless persons. We can declare that they are not living in this world but just existing in the world.In short, the hollow men are those who are empty in spirit, lack of motivation, pursuit, and faith.2.1.2 What their lives are likeThe hollow men claim that they are not lost violent souls but only the stuffed men. They try to comfort themselves by this trick, but soon they find that in deaths kingdom, even the violent souls will be judged, yet they themselves dare not face it. Those who have crossed with direct eyes, those who live with souls, their world are full of sunlight and songs that are more distant and solemn than a fading star, showing vitality, power and beauty. In contrast, the faithless hollow men do not believe all of these would appear in their world. They even dare not be nearer. Without any hope, they tragically chose to wear deliberate disguises: rats coat, crowskin, crossed staves. What a striking and dazzling contrast! The shining sunlight and twinkling star are fading away, leaving the hollow men desperate in the hollow valley. The distant is insurmountable between the life of the hollow man and the sunlight and star, the life of those with souls.The third section of this poem describes the living condition of the hollow men. “This is the dead land / This is cactus land”. They are actually dead so that they can only live in the dead land. On the dead land, the hollow men lose their ability to action and sign of life. What they possess are merely dying bodies; what they can do is only praying to the broken stone and trembling with tenderness at the same time. Praying to the broken stone, without faith in heart, the hollow men can never find their shining sunlight and stars. So “The eyes are not here / There are no eyes here”. What the world left with them are the valley of dying stars, the broken jaw of their lost kingdoms, which reflect the debility of their lives.The perpetual star and the multifoliate rose have become the only hope of empty men. But will the hope save them? Will they arrive at the expected kingdom at last? Definitely not. The shadow in section 5 which falls between idea and reality, motion and act, conception and creation, emotion and response, desire and spasm, potency and existence, essence and descent might hold the hollow men back when they have a sudden and good idea and attempt to do it. There are two entirely different worlds at the two sides of the shadow. It is an abstract, holy and spiritual world at one side, which is orderly, bright and warm. At the other side, there is a broken profane world which is physical, dark and cold. The hollow can live in the shadow at most. Like people at that time, they lost their directions because of the disillusionment of their dreams after World War I. They had no idea what their future would be, and what kind of fate they would have. For them, life is torture, so that life is very long.2.1.3 How their world ends“This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / This is the way the world ends / Not with a bang but a whimper”. At last, the hollow men cannot avoid death; they come into the world silently so do they leave the world. Not with a bang but a whimper. People go on with their lives as if nothing happens. No one will care for their death; they will die unnoticed in the end. This is the essence of their world: broken, empty and meaningless, so there is no power for them to create a bang. Even at the last moment of their life, they do not find their dignity, gone with a weak whimper.Part III3.1 Reflection on modern societyIt is obvious that this poem does not only portray the misfortune of several individuals, but also the tragedy of a generation. When we are sympathetic to the hollow men in that ear, we should also realize that there are still countless hollow men even in modern society. The western people were buried in the shadow of the war, while the modern hollow citizens are shrouded in the shadow of reality. “My biggest hope now is that I can find a great amount of money on the street, pick it up, and then marry a beautiful wife.” said by a computer programmer who has worked for two years after graduation. He is a representative of the modern citizens who are oppressed by heavy work or suffocating life style. With the development of economy and society, people are increasingly pursuing material stuffs: money, cars, houses, etc. All of these are like the straw stuffed in the hollow men, useless and meaningless. Driven by the pressure of life, peoples passion, wisdom, peaceful mood and profound thinking are squeezed out in their mind. They are modern hollow men.The wings of their dream are fractured before stretching. The aim of working day and night is to maintain an acceptable life. The modern men, they never think about what their work can bring to themselves and the society; they do not feel excited about what they have achieved anymore. The efficiency is decreasing; the passion is vanishing; the creative ideas are withering. They are trudging with emptied bodies. On the other hand, human beings are born with empty bodies. Who we can be depends on what we use to stuff in our bodies. The pure men are as rare and precious as endangered animals. Not al